


Saizo Son of Saizo

by JamesPeppersalt



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Baking, Cinnamon Roll Turned Murderous Cinnamon Roll, Depression, Desperation, Family Secrets, Gen, Loss of Parent(s), Murder, Ninja, Revenge, Stress Baking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-17
Updated: 2017-03-17
Packaged: 2018-10-06 11:37:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10333808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JamesPeppersalt/pseuds/JamesPeppersalt
Summary: The Saizo name had been passed throughout their family for five generations. Despite the reluctance of the heir of Saizo the Fifth, after tragic disappearances, the name was passed on a sixth time.Despite all this, the heir of Saizo the Fifth still rejects his legacy. Someone must take up the helm and carry on the family name until Kaze and Saizo V can be found.





	1. Saizo the Sixth

A chilled wind blew through Hoshido as the ne'er-do-wells and vagabonds gathered in the dank, desolated streets of the capital city.

They'd been told this would be easy business, yet Hide, the heir to one of Shirasagi's largest crime syndicates, could not feel at ease.

All that was meant to happen was that his father was to discuss the capture of two Hoshidan ninja, the retainer of King Ryouma and his twin, retainer to the current ruler of the newly founded nation of Valla. The boy was unsure as to why these men had been taken, but he had a sneaking suspicion that it had something to do with the brothers' family, maybe an old wound that needed closing.

Fidgeting nervously, Hide stood with the guards outside of the meetinghouse, yumi in-hand, though he was ill prepared to use it. Despite all of his father's money that had gone into archery lessons, inexperience would surely be the death of him.

The voices inside seemed to be coming to an agreement; earlier there had been silence, followed by brash shouting and incensed quarrels. Now, there was contemplative muttering that seemed slightly more productive than what had occurred prior.

A few minutes later, however, and that newfound peace was shattered.

It started with the sound of something small and metallic colliding with flesh; silence... then shouting. The sounds of a struggle ensued.

Quickly, the guards were to their feet, kicking down the door, and just as soon as they did, smoke came pouring out of the room. The guards coughed and charged in, whilst Hide covered his mouth and clutched his weapon. What was going on? What was happening?!

"Help...  _help... me..._ "

Hide jolted upwards, startled. He recognized the voice, to his surprise; it was one of his father's closest contacts. Cautiously, Hide crept towards the entrance. "H... hello?"

He screamed as a hand burst out of the smoke, clutching the air for want of his kyudogi. Hide kicked it away only to watch in horror as a man came crawling out of the smoke, gasping for life, a shuriken protruding from the small of his back.

"Hide!"

Hide looked up in terror. "F-Father?!"

" _Hide! Run!_ "

He hesitated; not by choice- his legs were paralyzed, frozen to the very spot in which he stood. He could not escape if he tried.

From inside, he heard screams; the sounds of death; the clang of metal against metal, blade against blade. He feared as to what might be occurring, though his imagination need not wonder for much longer as the smoke began to clear.

Inside, a dozen men laid dead, one of the very guards Hide had just been next to among them, along with Hide's father and sister. One person who had entered the building- the second of the two guards- remained alive; however, his time with the living would clearly be brief.

Fighting against him was a figure, clad in the garb of the shinobi. The ninja was dressed in dark colors, covered from head to toe; they were a slender individual, and  _fast_. With each strike of the guard's blade, the blades of the ninja's forearm countered. He held a kunai knife between their fingers, a yumi at their back.

Hide watched in horror as the guard brought down his sword one last time, and the ninja dodged, twisting so as to thrust his fist into his stomach, twisting the blades between his fingers in the guard's flesh. His opponent fell with a raspy yell, clutching his abdomen.

The ninja then turned to Hide, and his heart filled with fear.

His legs finally found the will to move, and he turned and ran into the Hoshidan night.

He knew that he was being pursued; there was no doubt about that. He did not care. His legs pumped, carrying him through damp, empty streets, poorly lit and eerily silent, so quiet that he could hear the blood rushing through his ears. He pulled an arrow from his quiver and nocked it upon his yumi, preparing for the worst.

The "worst" came in the form of a dagger thrown, lodging itself in the cobblestone in front of him and forcing him to a halt. A warning.

Hide turned in fear, drawing the string of his yumi. The ninja stood atop a pagoda, a hand on his hip and yumi drawn. This would be a match of accuracy. One that Hide knew he could not win, save for on the off chance that his opponent was a terrible shot.

Shakily, he aimed his weapon and fired quickly. His arrow aimed true, but the ninja dodge quickly, landing in a crouch as he drew his own yumi and firing rapidly. Hide screamed and dodged, but one arrow struck him, landing upon its mark in his foot and preventing him from running. He fell to the ground, holding back stinging tears of pain and the screams he retained within his throat.

The ninja disappeared from the pagoda. Hide was frightened; if their goal was not to kill him, then what?

Appearing as suddenly as he had disappeared, the ninja was at his side and had swiped his satchel, rifling through before confiscating the papers his father had given him.

"W-who are you?" Hide squeaked. "What do you want?!"

Wordlessly, the ninja leaned over and wrapped their hand around the shaft of the arrow in Hide's foot, yanking it out violently. He let out a scream, clutching his bleeding appendage. The ninja was nonplussed by this and turned to leave.

"Wait!" Hide cried. "Who are you?!"

His attacker paused, then turned their head slightly.

"My name is Saizo," he said, voice muffled by the scarf he wore over his face.

"What do you want?" Hide inquired fearfully.

A pause.

"Vengeance."

 

* * *

 

 

Saizo was glad to return home.

Shirasagi had been a disaster. Spotted, the ninja had been forced to resort to murdering the entirety of the company lest they tip off any townsfolk. Luckily, the son of one attending crime boss had exactly the information Saizo needed on his person.

After almost a day of walking, Saizo's destination was in sight; a bakery that had been home for some time now. The smell of sweets wafted through the air, the fresh scents of pastries and the tangible, savor hint of what could only be described as love.

Saizo glanced at the paper the boy had been carrying once more.

_One step close to finding them._

"Ah... so there you are."

The ninja had reached the door, which was, as always, open.

Saizo smiled. "Hello... Asugi."

The red-haired man had his arms crossed. "You're covered in blood. You weren't detected, were you?"

"What? Are you afraid I'm a better ninja than you were?"

Asugi shook his head. "You don't have to do this,  _Saizo_."

He said the name he'd been so nearly forced to bear with a hint of malicious in his voice, which was to be expected.

"Come, now. What have I said about covering your face in here? You'll scare off customers. Take that off before you arrive."

Sighing, Saizo reached up to the cowl and scarf that obscured the ninja's face. As they were pulled down, the familiar sensation of long, green hair falling down her face was welcoming.

"Good. Now get changed so that we can get to work, Midori."


	2. Safety

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Midori retells the events of her mission to Asugi while he dresses her wounds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is NOT a fic shipping Asugi and Midori. I do NOT condone incestuous ships.

Midori had never in her wildest dreams or most vivid nightmares thought that she might one day take up her uncle's name to carry on her family's lineage. The daughter of the family's second son, this had never been her burden to bear.

Or so she'd thought.

Growing up, neither she nor her cousin Asugi had seen much of their parents. A devastating war was raging between the nations of Nohr and Hoshido, a war that their parents were fighting in. Thus, they'd been resigned to a safer life: a life in the Deeprealms. A life where they would age quickly in comparison to the outside world; a life where they would be in complete and utter safety from the war; a life where they would be alone in every waking moment, because time flew faster for them than their families.

Midori had accepted this. Asugi had not.

Thus, her cousin had rejected his father's heritage and chose his own path.

She supposed that Asugi had a right to disown the Saizo name; after all, he'd grown up with everyone expecting him to accept a heritage he knew naught of. He'd always said he'd accept it when he was ready.

But he was not ready when their fathers had disappeared.

Asugi was not one for violence. Neither was Midori.

But there came a time when moral sacrifices had to be made.

 

* * *

 

"You really took a beating out there, huh, Midori?"

Midori chuckled. She was dressing after getting out of a bath Asugi had drawn for her to wash the blood from her person and soothe her wounds. He stood outside, facing away from her to give her privacy. "I was up against an entire building full of criminals, Asugi. It wasn't exactly a fair fight." She pulled her tunic over her head. "For them."

"You've gotten real cocky over the years, you know that?"

"Perhaps I have." She pulled her hair upwards in each hand into pigtails, looking at her reflection in a small mirror and smiling. But that smile soon faded away as memories returned to her, and she let her hair fall loose around her shoulders again, pulling it back into a low ponytail.

She stepped out, walking past Asugi to her cot, which was surrounded by herbs and the things she made from them. Currently, she was a patchwork of cuts and bruises; some deeper than others, but nothing too serious.

"You're lucky everyone's already left," Asugi scoffed as he approached. "You took  _forever_ in the bath."

Midori frowned and glanced away, saying nothing. Despite eternally longing for company as a child, nowadays she liked to be... alone. It gave her time to contemplate and close her mind off from external distractions.

"Whatever," her cousin sighed. "I've got bandages. Your staff's near your bed if you want to use it."

"No," Midori whispered. "I'm fine."

Asugi didn't reply. Instead, he picked up a healing salve that she'd developed and knelt down at her side, beginning to spread it over her wounds. She hissed in pain, but she knew that merely meant that it was working. After all, she had made it.

"You need to stop being so careless," he chided, not looking her in the eye as he began to bandage her arm. "You're reckless, Midori. You take too many risks."

She clicked her tongue. "It's necessary."

"It's not."

There was silence between the two as Asugi continued his work, patching her up like he always did.

"You didn't have to do this," he began once again, a conversation she hated having with him, but one she always did. "This was my legacy. You didn't have to take it upon yourself."

Midori chuckled. "You weren't going to take it up. Besides, it's a family name. Who better to take it on than me, if not you?"

"That's not funny. We're not the only grandchildren. We-"

She shushed him, glaring. "Asugi. What's done is done."

He glared right back, the full force of his fury behind it. She knew he was angry; angry at her for taking on something she shouldn't have, angry at himself for letting her. Angry at their fathers' captors, and angry at the world for letting what had happened occur.

"...So." He finished bandaging her leg and moved on to her other arm. "What happened?"

She paused, closing her eyes. There was an... uncomfortable amount of death on her last mission. She did her best not to think about it.

"I tracked down a potential source of information about the disappearances," she said plainly. "Then I followed it until I reached Shirasagi."

"Shirasagi? The capital?"

"Yes. There I found several crime families meeting. And, wouldn't you know it- they were meeting to discuss the fate of our fathers."

Asugi suddenly stopped. When she opened her eyes, he was staring at her, mouth agape.

"What..." he swallowed, bracing himself. "What did they say?"

She pursed her lips. "I... didn't get anything out of it when they discovered me. I had to... to..."

Midori let her mouth hang open without words, eyes moistening.

"...Midori."

She blinked, taking a deep breath. "I had to kill them all. It was... brutal, Asugi. I can't begin to describe..."

"I understand," he interrupted curtly. "Well, your bandages are all done, except for the ones that need to go on more... sensitive areas."

She sighed. "I already bandaged my stomach. I should be fine."

"Good." He tossed the salve and unused bandages to the floor. "Now, rest."

"You can't tell me what t-"

"You're in  _my_ bakery. You follow  _my_ rules."

Midori rolled her eyes and laid down on her cot as Asugi exited the living area and made his way to the bakery. He'd opened it up against his father, Saizo the Fifth's, wishes a few years ago. Three, to be exact.

A little over a year later, their lives were changed forever.

Midori sometimes wondered how the rest of their family was doing. After Kaze and Saizo had gone, it was just herself and Asugi, alone. They'd cut themselves off from everyone else.

Such was the painful burden of the ninja. They were forced to retain few personal ties. She'd rejected her bonds with her other parent, cousins, friends, even romantic ties.

The one she refused to give up, however, was her tie to Asugi.

He alone shared her pain, her burden... and her secret.

Shortly afterwards, Asugi brought her some food that had not been sold.

In spite of all that had happened, she could still enjoy small things, like the taste of sweets, or the company of family.


End file.
